Shared Perspectives
by Friendly Loner
Summary: This is intended to be a 3 part series of shorts about Pepper Pott's reaction to finding out that her boss has been captured in Afgahnistan. Movieverse, minor spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one.

Rhodes paused for a moment outside the door of Tony Starks mansion, the weight of all the years of his existence on this planet seemed to be crushing down upon his shoulders

Rhodes paused for a moment outside the door of Tony Starks mansion, the weight of all the years of his existence on this planet seemed to be crushing down upon his shoulders. He felt like a man twice his age as he steeled himself to open the front door with his spare key. He had returned to the States and was on his way to a debriefing about the disaster in Afghanistan and needed to collect a few documents from Stark's home office and to lock down the security system before the news of the attack and Stark's disappearance broke. He was exhausted, he hadn't slept in the 32 hours since the attack on the convoy and he certainly wouldn't be getting any in the next 24, not if the higher-ups had anything to say about it. And they would have plenty to say about it. After all it wasn't everyday that an officer managed to loose the man in possession of nearly all the tactical and weaponry secrets of the western hemisphere. Rhodes sighed, there was no way to deny the inevitable raking over the coals he was sure to receive; he might as well get on with things.

Rhodes entered the mansion and as he made his way towards the living room and the office beyond he was struck by the blinding red light of the sunset through the floor to ceiling wall of west facing windows. Eyes welling up, he threw his right arm into the air to shade his face from the light. That's when he saw them. The black stilettos on the floor by the windows, one standing tall in the lonely expanse of concrete flooring and the other toppled over on its side nearby. Rhodes felt something in his gut clench as he took in more of the scene. The massive flat screen TV was on playing muted commercials and on the shag carpet was scattered shards of broken glass. On the floor near the couch lay a dropped mug and a puddle of congealed coffee. Next to the spill rested several pieces of what had once been a top of the line, cutting edge, "no price is too high; _damn it"_ Blackberry. The commercial on the television ended and a news report came on, showing, impossibly, leaked footage of the attack on Stark's funvee.

Fitting together the pieces of this visual puzzle with rapid-fire mental calculations that even Stark himself would have been proud of Rhodes swiftly realized what must have taken place in the mansion this afternoon.

"…Pepper?" He called tentatively into the room. He was rewarded with a muted groan from the corner by the window where her shoes were. Squinting into the light as he strode into the room he finally found her and froze, immobilized by what he saw. There she was on the floor, curled up so small that he had completely missed her when he'd first scanned the room. She was hunched into the corner where wall met window, her back against the concrete and her ravaged face turned towards the sunset on the horizon. Her hair had come loose from its usual demure bun and hung about her in a red cloud, the strawberry deepened from the light of the setting sun. He had no idea where her suit jacket was, but her blouse had come un-tucked and was now covering most of her skirt, the tails reaching just beyond the hem. He had seen his fair share of disheveled women in his time. Particularly in his time knowing Stark. But not like this, and _never_ Pepper. In all the years he had known her as Stark's assistant Pepper Potts had never appeared as less than perfect and always operated at 110. Shock held Rhodes rooted to the spot until…

"Tony?" Hope and heartbreak filled her eyes as she turned to look into the room for who had interrupted her. Galvanized by the desolation creeping over her face as she recognized him, Rhodes rushed to her side.

"Rhodes…?" She said uncomprehendingly. Her breath smelled of sweet alcohol, looking down he saw a fairly large and nearly empty bottle of white wine clutched loosely in her hand. As he read the label Rhodes felt his eyes widen 'Did she know….?' he thought to himself.

"Rhodes" She repeated dazedly.

"Pepper," Rhodes choked "I am so, _so_ sorry you had to find out this way, there must have been a leak somehow. I was supposed to find you before the story broke, can you ever forgive me?"

"Rhodes, what are you doing here?" Her eyes were started to loose their abstracted look and began to focus.

"You were supposed to be with him." Now her eyes were darting franticly around, searching for the man who wasn't there.

"You were supposed to look after him!" Panicked now, she dropped the bottle and began to push her back into the wall and slid up it into an unsteady standing position. Teetering, her accusing glare cut into him like daggers. With a hand on the wall to brace her; she began coming towards him. Each frantic question sliced him open anew.

Where's Tony Rhodes? What happened to him? What did you let happen to him?! She stumbled over her own feet and fell into him. He caught her and held her up and away from himself as she pummeled him in her frenzy, sobbing over and over "What did you do?! Where is he?!"

Heart breaking for the broken women in his arms that had always been so strong; Rhodes let her beat out her impotent fury against his chest. Finally exhausted Pepper collapsed against him, her whole body heaving with great wracking sobs. Deciding that the worst was over Rhodes gathered the weeping woman into his arms and carried her to the couch and laid her down. Pepper turned her face into the padded arm of the couch and sniffled quietly to herself, hiccupping every now and then on a sob. Seeing that she was clearly exhausted Rhodes fetched a blanket from the linen closet and draped it atop Pepper. He watched over her until she was deep asleep and then quickly went to retrieve the documents he came for. Checking on her one last time, he marveled at how astoundingly vulnerable she looked, paused, and then…

"Jarvis?"

**Yes Mr. Rhodes?**

"If I haven't returned by the time she wakes up, would it be possible for you to try and comfort her?"

**Most certainly Mr. Rhodes**

Rhodes let out a long sigh as he closed the door to the mansion behind him and decided that the pain of a thousand debriefings could never compare to the despair of the woman within.

Well that was my first fanfiction and the first piece of creative writing I've done since high school, I'm terribly curious how I did so please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Wow, that was a long time between parts. Sorry about that, got sidetracked by my other Iron Man fic. But I'm back in the saddle!

I own nothing and no one.

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Pepper sighed contentedly as she stretched in her chair, relishing the peace and quiet that was so rare in her place of work

Pepper sighs contentedly as she stretches in her chair, relishing the peace and quiet that was so rare in her place of work. She smiles to herself, who does she think she's kidding? Peace and quiet? She lives for the challenge of dealing with the incorrigible Tony Stark, if it was quiet like this all the time she'd be bored out of her mind. Still, a change was nice and he'd be back from his demonstration in a few hours so she may as well enjoy the break in her schedule as much as possible. She pushes her chair back and rolls away from the desk, deciding to call an end to her paperwork for the day. Pepper smoothes down her skirt as she rises; even with her boss out of town for the day she was still dressed to the nines, you just never knew who might stop by for a word with the woman behind the man behind the company.

She steps out of her office in Stark's Malibu mansion. It always seemed a bit odd to work in Tony's home while he was out of town, but he almost never spent any time at his office at Stark Industries and so neither did Pepper. Tired from her birthday celebration with her friends the night before, Pepper decides to brew herself a cup of coffee and veg' out in front of the TV as she reviews the coming weeks appointments. As she wanders through the living room on her way to the kitchen she flips on the television for some company as she brews her drink. The channel is set to CNN and yet another set of blowhards is endlessly debating the virtues, or lack thereof, of the two candidates for democrat leadership. Pepper sighs and resolves to change the channel as soon as she sits down.

Soon the sharp smell of dark roast fills the air and Pepper and her steaming cup make their way out to the couch in living room. She pulls her blackberry out of her pocket before going to sit down so it won't be crushed. Just then the two talking heads on the screen are replaced with one of the regular anchors. She looked familiar. A morning back in early fall perhaps? Hadn't taken well to being fobbed off by the "secretary" if Pepper recalled properly. Pepper takes a sip of her coffee and stands, waiting to hear what the bulletin is. A little video of a convoy in a desert plays in the top right hand of the screen.

"Footage was leaked today from an unknown source of the convoy of military industrialist Tony Stark, under attack by insurgents in Afghanistan yesterday afternoon."

Pepper's breath catches in her throat and her world comes to a grinding halt as she watches one of the hummers explode on the screen. She tries to keep listening through the buzzing, ringing tone that has replaced thought in her head. She prays that the next words out of the news casters mouth are ones of reassurance.

"There were at least 10 fatalities and at present it is unknown if Tony Stark is alive or dead, as no body has been found at the site of the attack."

Blackberry and coffee fall from numb fingers and hit the floor, the blackberry shatters on impact. Seconds later the objects on the floor are joined by Peppers knees as her legs don't seem to be able to hold her up anymore. She kneels on the floor with her arms lifeless at her sides and the buzzing ringing is everywhere, white noise crawling along every surface and spilling out of the mouth of the blonde on the screen. Pepper can almost _see_ it, it's so overwhelming. Stars are blinking to life in front of her eyes and she's feeling light headed.

Suddenly it's a commercial break and an obnoxious jingle cuts through the clamor in her head like a chainsaw through the silence of a forest. Pepper remembers to breathe again and the stars recede to the periphery of her vision. Her mind is racing in circles and she trembles with adrenaline, she is in full on fight or flight mode. It's too much. Too much for her to handle, this reaction. This is not the result of a PA learning of her employer's disappearance, nor even that of the loss of a friend. She can't, won't think what kind of reaction this is, what the loss of Tony Stark means to her. That way lays madness. Her mind heads that way regardless of self-preservation though, thoughts and emotions racing ahead of rationality, bearing down on a conclusion that will tear her life into pieces if reached. On an instinctive level she already knows what the conclusion is, and knows that if consciously reached, the pieces of Pepper Potts' life won't ever fit back into place; even if, miraculously, Tony Stark is returned alive. It is instinct that drives her to her feet and instinct that guides her, stumbling, to the wine cellar.

Pepper blinks, she's surrounded by bottles and a fusty cedar odor. She's in the wine cellar but doesn't remember how she got there. She shies away from thinking too hard, and grimly grabs one of the dustier bottles of wine from the shelves. If there's anything that keeps her from thinking too hard it's wine and if there was ever an occasion for the prim and proper Pepper Potts to un-spool enough to get well and truly shit faced, this would be it. She leaves the cellar in search of a corkscrew and very large glass.

She's back in the kitchen now, still with no idea how she's getting from room to room. But it doesn't matter, she tells herself, because she's here, the wines here, and pretty soon nothings going to matter, nothing at all. Nope, nothing matters, nothing to worry about, just her and this glass and this very nice bottle of wine that's uncorked now, but she swears she never saw a corkscrew. Just her (not thinking) and her wine and this glass and a voice that will just _not_ shut up.

"…some might find it ironic that Starks' convoy was blown up with what would appear to be incendiaries produced by his own company…"

Smug, bitter, hateful bitch! Pepper hurls the empty wineglass across the island where she's standing and it careens through the living room and shatters with a satisfying crash against the face of the scorned anchor.

"Jarvis? Mute!"

**Whatever you need, Miss Potts.**

The harpy is silenced. Pepper takes a large swallow of wine straight from the bottle and pretends she didn't hear the pity in Jarvis' voice, because AI can't feel pity and anyways there's no reason for anyone to pity her, she's fine. She's not the one missing, probably dead in a godforsaken desert, she's not the one who'll never destroy an Armani suit with engine oil again, not the one who'll never banter with her again, not the one who'll never look at her with laughing brown eyes, surprised at her ability to go toe to toe with him. Never…

More wine. Lots more. Not enough wine in the world probably. Maybe she should get more. Pepper looks at the bottle, there's still a third to go and the wine cellars not going anywhere. The sun is going though, down that is. Red sky at night, sailors delight. She hardly ever stops to enjoy a good sunset anymore, even with the incredible view from her office every afternoon. No time like the present to change her ways though. She doesn't want to think about all of her ways that will be changing, and all too soon. No she just wants to sit and watch the waves pull in and out, moving with the tide and glowing with a thousand refracted sunbeams. Nothing but the waves…

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Hope you liked part 2! I hope to have some free time this weekend to do the last part.


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